But he said Norfolk could sometimes be overlooked - and that it was up to the county to fight its corner. Referring to why he got into politics, he said: “I was very much of the mind-set, ‘if not us, then who?”

Before introducing the speakers, he praised the land-based college and its students.

Mr Pendlington, former chairman of the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), said: “One thing that strikes me about this great county is the potential it has and the role it has to play not just in the UK economy, but in the global one.

“I know that Norfolk is an extremely special place, packed full of entrepreneurship. I want to debunk the idea that there is a cul-de-sac economy here.”

He cited the new aviation academy in Norwich, Norwich University of the Art’s Ideas Factory and Hethel engineering as examples of Norfolk’s forward-thinking initiatives.

And the message from all speakers – which included acting principal of the college Jane Townsend – was collaboration.

They said people should not “work in their separate silos”, and, instead, should join forces and work with a “common purpose”.

Do you have a story we should be writing about? Let us know by emailing Lauren Cope on lauren.cope@archant.co.uk